Brentwood Home’s 13-inch Mattress Is A Home Run For Comfort

• Initial Checks
• Feel & Firmness
• Smell

• Heat Regulation
• Value
• Zen Sleeping Score

Initial Checks

1. Where was the memory foam mattress produced?

The Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress is produced in the USA by Brentwood Home and was first introduced on April 8, 2014. Their website is informative and features a great FAQ about caring for their products. They seem to b e very experienced matress manufacturers, as they have been in business for over 30 years.

5 out of 5 points for this section!

2. Is the manufacturer listed on the CertiPUR-US site?

Yes, which means their mattresses are :
– Made without ozone depletes
– Made without PBDE flame retardants
– Made without mercury, lead, and other heavy materials
– Made without phthalates regulated by Consumer Product Safety Commission
– Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions for indoor air quality

5 out of 5 points here.

3. What is the actual thickness/ density of the memory foam layer?

The top layer is 3.5” thick and made with gel-infused memory foam

I always recommend purchasing a memory foam mattress with a top layer of at least 3”, so this top layer definitely exceeds my expectations.

The 3.5” gel memory foam top layer has a density of 4lb pcf, which should be an ideal firmness for back sleepers, but may be a bit too firm for side and stomach sleepers. We will get a definitive answer on this in the Feel & Firmness section

5 out of 5 points here; my job is looking super easy with this review!

4. What is the actual thickness of the foam in the supporting layers?

The Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress uses a 3-layered system in its mattress design, which is great. I like seeing 2 or 3 layered mattresses, but you always have to be careful with 3 layered mattresses being too “wishy-washy”. What I mean by that is, some mediocre 3-layered mattresses will feel quite weird when you try to shift your weight on the mattress. You may be able to actually feel all 3 layers moving independently, which is really bad. Luckily, you will see later on that this won’t be the case with the Brentwood Home.

The second layer is 2 inches thick and made from ventilated support foam. Note that this layer is not made from memory foam, but just foam. However, the fact that they claim this foam is “ventilated” leads me to believe that it may offer a more open-cell structure than typical foam layers, which is a big plus when it comes to heat regulation and overall comfort.

The third layer is a 7.5-inch therapeutic support base, which is basically comprised of high-density foam material to support your body and prevent you from sinking too low.

5 out of 5 points!.

Feel & Firmness

I have never had an easier time setting up a mattress.

First of all, the Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress weighs between 53-55 lbs, and that’s including the box and packaging. The product listing says the mattress itself weighs only 50 lbs, and my own measurements confirmed that.

Second of all, it took less than 12 hours after opening for the mattress to reach its full thickness. In the world of memory foam mattresses, that’s insane; a standard memory foam mattress usually takes 1-3 days to fully form.

This actually could have a very positive implication: the foam used in the Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress is really well ventilated.

Since memory foam mattresses that are shipped to the customer are packaged in air-tight plastic, they will immediately begin expanding when the plastic is opened. However, memory foam mattresses made from more open-cell structured foam will naturally expand much faster. This is optimal, as a mattress made from more ventilated foam will do a much better job in regulating heat and maintaining comfort during sleep.

The mattress features a top panel surface made from completely all-natural wool; this is great because wool blocks moisture, regulates heat and is even fire resistant.

And that’s not all. The mattress cover is infused with bamboo, which is hypoallergenic and resistant to dust mites.

My sleeping experience on this mattress was great. Normally I prefer mattresses with a more medium/firm feel, but the softness of this mattress was actually amazing. It is definitely more of a soft/medium firmness, but I did not feel myself sinking too much at all (and I’m a 200lb guy!). This actually goes a bit counter to what I initially expected; after observing the thickness and density of the memory foam layer to be 3.5 inches and 4 lb pcf respectively, I was positive the mattress would feel comfortable for back sleepers but too firm for side sleepers. Having actually tried out the mattress though, I can safely say that the Brentwood Home 13-inch would probably feel comfortable for back, side, and stomach sleepers. This is a big accomplishment, since memory foam mattresses are are usually either too firm for one type of sleeping position, perfect for one of them, and too soft for the last one.

A soft-medium firmness with a plush feel

From a Feel & Firmness perspective, I would recommend this mattress to everyone who enjoys the comfort of soft mattresses. Out of the 10 customers I interviewed who have owned this mattress for more than a year, 7 reported the mattress as maintaining its level of support and comfort, which is great. 3 of them reported that the edge support isn’t as great as it was when they first purchased it.

My rule of thumb: This mattress feels great. If you prefer soft/ medium firmness mattresses with a plush feel, the Brentwood Home 13-inch is your ticket to Zen Sleeping.

For testing the durability of the Brentwood Home 13-inch Memory Foam Mattress, I considered three key factors: garment construction, surface / edge abrasion, and stain release. For all of these factors, I turned to my trustworthy 10 verified purchasers who have owned the product for more than a year. They are the perfect candidates to rate these factors as they have used, washed, dried, and generally observed any wear and tear of the mattress over a considerably longer period of time than I have.

Garment construction refers to how resistant the mattress is to tears at the seams, body and sleeves. The more durable a mattress is, the more resistant it is to these types of tears. Thankfully, all 10 verified purchasers reported absolutely no visible tears at the sleeves, body or seams of the mattress. This is a great start, as it makes me more confident of the bamboo cover’s ability to last for a long time.

Surface / edge abrasion refers to how resistant the memory foam mattress is against wearing away when rubbed against another surface. Every night the mattress will receive friction from your body, blankets, during washing and drying, and just general wear. 9 verified purchasers reported absolutely no surface or edge abrasions on the Brentwood Home 13-inch, which is great. 1 verified purchaser reported a slight abrasion of the bamboo cover at the top edge (lengthwise) of their mattress; however, they also reported that their dog loves to jump on the bed and sleep with them, so it’s possible that there was extra wear and tear from the energetic pup! All in all, a 90% success rate in this area is definitely good enough.

Stain release refers to how effectively the mattress can release stains. It’s important for two reasons: durability and aesthetics. Mattresses with covers made from more durable fabrics will usually release tough stains easily. And as for aesthetics, who doesn’t love to sleep on a mattress with no stains?! In our case, only 1 customer reported ever having a stain on their mattress, and it was…you guessed it… the one with the pup! They said their dog had a pee accident on it once, but that the urine was cleaned away with no stains afterwards. I won’t be able to give a definitive rating of the Brentwood Home 13-inch Memory Foam Mattress’s stain release abilities since I don’t want to use one data point to make a claim, but it is important to note that up until now the mattress has performed very highly; therefore, I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

I award the Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress 20 out of 20 points for Feel. Seriously, it was great.

Smell

Most memory foam mattresses come with a distinct “new memory foam” smell that typically goes away after a few days of being aired out. I definitely noticed this smell with the Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress, so before using it I let it air out in a well-ventilated room. Surprisingly, it only took about 1 day for the smell to go away. Typically it should take about 48 hours, but I was happy to be able to finally get this mattress set up on my mattress foundation after only 1 day of airing out. I will admit that the smell on this mattress was more noticeable than most mattresses I’ve reviewed, but the smell went away quite fast and it also didn’t have a “chemical” smell at all.

The customers I interviewed also echoed my sentiments with regards to smell. Out of 10 customers, 9 noticed a distinct memory foam smell immediately after unpacking. All 9 reported the smell completely went away after 1-3 days of airing the mattress out. 1 customer did not report any smell… lucky!

I award 17 out of 20 points in this section.

Heat Regulation

Heat buildup in memory foam mattresses is a factor that I really like to review thoroughly, as it tends to be one of the biggest issues that customers have. To review heat regulation, I took a two-layered approach to my analysis. First, I tested heat regulation by recording how hot I felt during a week of sleeping on the Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress; using those notes, below I will provide an aggregate analysis of my own opinions of the mattress. Second, I reached out to my 10 verified purchasers to get their firsthand experiences with regards to how hot the Brentwood Home 13-inch gets at night, as well as how good (or bad) the mattress is with respect to heat regulation.

So, I slept on the mattress for 7 nights and recorded my thoughts. I am happy to report that the Brentwood Home 13-inch does an amazing job with heat regulation. I felt a cool, relaxing temperature all 7 nights on this mattress. Not hot, not even neutral, but cool! I ended up needing an extra blanket because I usually expect memory foam mattresses to be a bit hotter than other mattresses. In this case though, it was the opposite.

My verified purchasers also had similar sentiments with regards to heat regulation. 9 out of 10 thought the mattress felt either cool or neutral throughout the majority of the time they’ve slept on this mattress (> 1 year), which is awesome. 1 of them thought it felt warm, but not too hot to make it uncomfortable. So overall, these are all great results, and serves to show that as long as you aren’t extremely sensitive to heat, you will most probably feel quite comfortable and cool / neutral while sleeping on the Brentwood Home 13-inch.

Heat regulation is perfect when it comes to this mattress. 20 out of 20.

Value

This is one of the best mattresses I have had the pleasure of reviewing. There really isn’t anything I can say that is bad about this mattress; perhaps in a couple years the edges might sink a bit, but honestly there isn’t anything else.

The Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress is the solution to sleepers who are typically hesitant to buy memory foam mattresses due to firmness issues.

For Value, I award 20 out of 20 points.

Zen Sleeping Score

We at Zen Sleeping believe that a mattress with a score of >70 passes our performance standards.

With a score of 97, the Brentwood Home 13-inch Gel HD Memory Foam Mattress is an absolutely superior product in every way. You will be hard-pressed to find a mattress that can go head-to-head with it. If you’re looking for a top-quality mattress for a very affordable price, this is it. Below you will see a breakdown of how each section in this review stacks up against one another.